Untamed Neko
by Kung-lou
Summary: **ch5 up**What if Genma was what you would expect a father to be and the Neko Ken really was an ultimate technique. Plz C + C
1. the death of a father

Untamed Neko  
  
who says a good edit makes for easier reading. Many thanks to warpwizard for his time. The results should be obvious.  
Ch1   
  
Genma tried his best to tune out the occasional whimpers from his boy as he draped fish sausage over Ranma's shoulders. At age seven Ranma was shaping up to be an excellent martial artist. He absorbed knowledge like a sponge, learning everything that Genma had to teach him. The things Genma couldn't teach him, he actively searched for and learned on his own. This was not, however, how Genma judged a true martial artist. Drive and skill aside, what defined a true martial artist, in Genma's opinion, was love of the art. He loved the art, loved learning obscure techniques, loved developing his own and pushing his limits. Most of all he loved teaching the art. Which was why he was draping chains of fish sausage around Ranma's shoulders for the fifteenth consecutive time this month.   
  
According to the book he had picked up on the teaching of the Neko-ken, it should have been simple. Wrap the student in fish sausage and throw them into a pit of staving cats once a day for an hour until they learn the technique. When he first discussed the training with his son, the boy was all for it. The thought of learning such an unbeatable technique made both of them drool. Since there was an age restriction, however, only Ranma could attempt to learn it.   
  
To ensure that Ranma had the best possible chance at learning the technique Genma had spent the last year concentrating on drilling Ranma only in the essentials: endurance and stamina, power and strength, and most importantly a drive to be the best and conquer any weakness. A strong fighting spirit was essential to anyone who called themselves a martial artist. Genma decided that his son was ready to learn the technique shortly after the boy had managed to swim to China, crossing the Sea of Japan whilst carrying his backpack at the age of seven.   
  
In hindsight it seemed that Genma had been a little too successful in drilling his son on the importance of eliminating weakness and pushing boundaries, after all Ranma was only seven and pretty impressionable. After the first week of Neko-ken training Ranma still hadn't learnt the technique, even worse he had started to develop a fear of cats. Neither Genma nor Ranma could afford such a weakness, so, spurred on by the desire to push his limits and the thought of learning a technique that Genma hadn't and couldn't learn, Ranma insisted that they continue.   
  
After the second week Genma wanted to give up, no technique was worth this, this amount of pain, fear, and misery. His son wasn't sleeping; the fear of cats smothered his waking and sleeping mind. Ranma's pride and determination, even at seven was strong; he insisted that they continue and he had never been able to refuse his son something he wanted so much, especially when it had to do with the art. Genma prayed that Ranma learn the Neko-ken soon; the sounds that he was forced to endure while his son was in the pit would haunt him for the rest of his life. With that thought on the edge of his mind, he threw his son into the pit and slammed the wooden cover shut. Over the last two weeks he had been forced to repair and strengthen it repeatedly as his son's efforts to escape in the midst of panic grew. 'Was any technique worth this?' he thought, as the screams and the sound of a feeding frenzy with his son at the center started.   
  
******   
  
The silence was almost deafening, normally there was always sound coming from the pit. Whether it was cats fighting over food, the sound of Ranma trying to get out or the screams - ah god the screams - of his son cowering in terror, desperately trying to protect his eyes, throat, groin. Now there was silence, he counted the minutes from the sound of his heartbeat, what could have happened in there? One second he was trying unsuccessfully to block out the sounds that had started to give him nightmares the next, nothing. Just as he was about to rush to the pit and slam open the cover he heard a "meeeeoooowwww". It was inhuman and it terrified him. The pit burst open in a shower of splintering wood and metal reinforcements in a display of strength he had not seen since the Master shudder.   
  
And there was Ranma, perched on an overhanging tree branch: standing on all fours, back arched and hissing, then he was gone. Two thoughts ran through Genma's brain at that time; the first was 'Is this the legendary catfist?' the second followed the memory of the inhuman eyes and feral expression that adorned Ranma's face -'WHAT HAVE I DONE TO MY SON!?!"   
  
_____________________________________________________________________   
  
Cologne was worried, which was a rare occurrence - not many things could disturb this particular 290 odd year old Amazon matriarch warrior. The tales that had been drifting into the village was, however one of them. Stories of a cat monster, a demon, making its home in the nearby expanse of forest to the west of them. Well no, that wasn't quite enough to get her this worried; those stories combined with the fact that whole villages were being deserted as the 'cat monster' slowly expanded his territory into the surrounding lands was. Especially since they relied heavily on trade from those same villages. This had happened a few times in the past, usually it was just a local psychopath escaping justice and a hunting party would quickly end the problem - not this time though. Yes, it was time to organize a hunting party of their own to deal with this problem. Even that was not so simple, as she had heard tales of previous hunting parties being sent when the cat monster was initially reported, and it seemed that this demon was territorial and very dangerous. Which meant that this 'monster' was particularly dangerous, almost enough to believe that it was a demon. Cologne was old enough to have encountered enough of them to not discount their existence. Time was running out however, if she didn't act soon then the demon's territory would enclose their own village within months and that would mean fighting on home soil, which was not an option.   
  
'Tomorrow,' she nodded to herself, 'Yes, tomorrow a hunting party would be sent to deal with the problem. After all, nothing could stand in the way of the great Amazon nation.' Suppressing a sudden chill, Khu Lon decided the larger the party the better, and that her grand-daughter Conditioner would lead them. Who better to lead them to victory after all than the greatest warrior of her generation, the greatest in the village, with the exception of the elders, of course.   
  
******   
  
Genma sat in one of the abandoned villages just outside of the invisible line that marked the start of his son's territory. He couldn't understand it; nothing in the Neko-ken manual mentioned a student becoming a cat in mind if not body. Sure his son's speed and strength had increased to unbelievable levels, levels that only his great skill in the art had enabled him to match - but what good was it when his son's mind had effectively been destroyed. Genma had hoped that the technique would wear off but that hope had died when he had attacked and killed local hunting parties that had invaded what he had considered his territory. What Ranma had become was opposite to the ideals that Genma himself subscribed to and had tried to teach to his son. The use of the art to protect those that needed protecting from those stronger than they. Killing was almost never done and then only in extreme circumstances.   
  
He faced a dilemma then, what to do. By the code he should be protecting the villages from his son but Ranma was his blood and only heir. The fact that Nodoka would kill him didn't have any bearing on his thinking at all hehehe - who is he trying to kid.   
  
For the next five months he had attacked his son in his lair almost daily and it had taken all of his skill and then some to survive those encounters. Genma didn't let himself be fooled, he had survived, but only because his son had started to see him as a playmate who retreated when too tired to continue. He was proud to say that he had grown as a martial artist in that time - five months of fighting for his life can have that effect. Neko-Ranma may have seen him as a playmate, but most of the techniques that Genma used were just as dangerous as those chi claws that Neko-Ranma employed. Just as Genma had improved over the last five months, so too had Neko-Ranma. His speed had increased along with his ability to blanket the area in his Ki, giving him the ability to monitor any events in what he considered to be his territory. This Ki-blanketing technique not only allowed Ranma's Ki reserves grow at an amazing rate, but also gave him immediate warning of intruders making it next to impossible to plan any ambush.   
  
As Neko-Ranma's control over his ever-growing reserves increased, so to did the area affected by his Ki-blanketing technique, leading to an increase in his territory. Whole villages were engulfed, and while no massacres took place, Neko-Ranma hunted amongst them until they learned and fled their homes. A month of watching his son kill those that were not fast enough to flee his territory and he made a decision. Genma determined to use his secret techniques and end the menace that was his son. He loved Ranma dearly, but sadly he had lost his son 6 months ago to the Neko-ken training. His training and his code would not let him stand by and watch his son hunt down and kill at will amongst the population of China. Genma almost cried in relief when news of the 'cat demon' and the 'missing persons' sparked a mass panic leading to the desertion of most of the villages that were even remotely close to his son's current territory, hopefully preventing any further killings. Tomorrow he would end it - one way or another. Genma knew however, that even with his secret techniques and how powerful they were, against his son's massive speed, strength and almost inhuman Ki reserves, his chances were slim in a battle for survival.   
  
******   
  
Conditioner was tense; when she had been chosen to lead the battle group by elder Cologne, she had been proud that her skills had been recognized. Then she had seen the size and the makeup of the group she would be leading. Smaller, less skilled groups had been chosen to raid Musk territory. Cologne had assured her that the problem must be dealt with, and when dealing with a possible demon there was no such thing as overkill. It made sense, and what single demon could stand up to fifteen of the best Amazon warriors of their generation? In fact, she felt quite safe with so many of her sisters surrounding her, even facing the fact that she was headed to fight a demon.   
  
All that changed when she crossed into it's territory. Nothing visibly marked the transition and yet the high level of Ki that flowed through the area was oppressive. 'What being can afford to waste so much Ki over such a large area?' she wondered. Could whatever they were facing be expecting them? It certainly knew they were there if they had just stepped into his Ki field. Glancing at her sisters, all of whom had at least limited abilities to control and sense Ki, she could see that they were equally disturbed. As she entered the large grove of trees that marked the inner sanctum of the beast's territory, she was getting a real bad feeling about the mission, and she could see that the rest of her sisters were having similar doubts. 'I wonder if I'll ever see my darling Shampoo again...' Conditioner thought, as the remains of the previous hunting party dropped amongst them from the treetops, announcing the start of an attack.   
  
"Three thousand years of tradition will not fall as easily as those weak males, demon!" she shouted as she and her fellow sisters reacted as the trained warriors that they were, by organizing an appropriate defense and counter attack that they hoped would lead to the demon's demise.   
  
******   
  
Never had Genma imagined that he would be using his silent thief techniques to sneak up on and kill his son, but he had no illusions about the outcome of a fight between himself and Ranma with Ranma in his current state, if he didn't use his full bags of tricks. His son was more than a match for him when the change first took place, now, six months later, with so much time to perfect his techniques and even improve them, he would be almost invincible. His son always could master and improve upon techniques at a speed that phenomenal.   
  
He was so used to his son's Ki permeating the area, that the sudden absence of it took him by surprise. Even amidst the height of his battles with his son, the Ki field had been maintained. It's sudden lack could only mean trouble. Genma faded back into view, just in time to hear war cries and the sound of battle. Some fools were trying a frontal assault. It was suicide - never the less, Genma ran to their aid, after all, they had the same goals as he. At least with help he increased his chances of success, he thought as he started frantically firing vacuum blades at the blur he had once considered his son.   
  
_____________________________________________________________________   
  
Blood, it was everywhere, all over his naked body, in his hair, eyes, and mouth. Ranma looked around. He was in the middle of what looked like the aftermath of a very large, very violent battle. The clearing he was in was clearly the result of that battle: trees had been smashed, vaporized and... shredded?, clearing the area in which he currently lay. The ground was pockmarked with holes and littered with bodies. Ranma had never seen a dead body before, and at the tender age of seven, he found the sight of the dismembered and disemboweled bodies very disturbing. 'How did I get here? The last thing I remember is those damn cats.' Ranma just lay in the middle of the battleground, still a bit disoriented from waking up in a different location and having apparently experienced some time loss, trying to find a trace of memory that could tell him what happened. 'Wait a minute!' Ranma thought. 'Cats... the fear's gone. Does that mean I mastered the technique?' Ranma forced himself to look at the bodies again, or the remains in some cases. Nothing about the location helped him place where he was, maybe the bodies would.   
  
"POP!!" he screamed when he saw his father rapidly bleeding out his life on the edge of the clearing. "WHO DID THIS!?" Ranma noticed that he was quickly getting hysterical and forced himself to calm down. It would not help him or his father if he lost it.   
  
As Genma looked at his son, his vision fading, he almost smiled in joy as the spark of humanity reappeared in his boy's eyes. "The true horror of the catfist. Son, become the heir that I was training you to be, continue the ten-year journey we began together and finish it. I'm sorry Tendo I..." It was the last words the world would hear Genma speak, as he died in a fit of coughing as his punctured lungs filled with blood. It was also the trigger that forced Ranma to remember the months he was trapped in the catfist. He remembered all the people he had murdered, his own father among them in the end. The memories of the daily fights with his father, the expansion of his territory and the hunts, all returned in a rush of images. Now, with his humanity back, he shivered at the thought of those memories; on an intellectual level the idea of cannibalism and the other things he had done disgusted him. On a more primal level though, he recognized that what he had done was to ensure his own survival. To a predator of his size and needs, a large territory to support him was crucial. He had done no more than any other wild animal in his position would have. That was the crux though: he was human, and maybe if he had better control...   
  
Another thing about his memories Ranma found strange was the string of victories over his father. He had almost thought of Genma as a martial artist god. In everything martial arts related, certainly he had never seen another martial artist even come close to matching his father's skill level, especially not the level of skill he could remember his father using against him while he had been under the thrall of the Neko-ken. Yet he had been able to match him through the use of speed and ferocity. The Neko-ken was truly an unbeatable technique; one that Ranma was determined to master, now more than ever. The amount of damage he had done when he had lost control was tremendous. Ranma shook his head. If he had been stronger, none of this would have happened. His father would still be alive to guide him on his own path to Anything Goes mastery.   
  
No, the last thing his father would want would be for him to lose himself in guilt and remorse. Genma had loved the art, he had been willing to give his life to it. While it had been he who had killed him, it helped to think of it as a glorified training accident. Instead, he would do as his father asked him to do on his dying breath, he would become an heir that his father would be proud of and finish his training journey. Between the memories of the last six months and the Neko-ken, he would be a martial artist his father would be proud to call his son. Plus, the world was full of styles for him to learn. The Neko-ken was a powerful style of fighting, but it was instinctive. Ranma needed to gain conscious control over it before he could even begin to make it his own, and that, he decided, he would make a top priority. This type of mindless slaughter must never happen again. With a last look at the mangled bodies that lay around his father's body, he started walking west, after all, one direction was as good as any other.   
____________________________________________________________________   
  
Cologne surveyed the battlefield between her granddaughter, fellow warriors and the demon. It was obvious that they were unsuccessful in destroying the demon, but the lack of activity in the area demonstrated that they were quite successful in driving it away. But how? It seemed that the battle group was hopelessly outmatched, and yet the demon was gone. Cologne hated mysteries, especially when they directly affected the security of the Amazon nation, and a demon of such power as to be able to destroy fifteen experienced warriors was something to be wary of. One that not only had such power, but actively flaunted it by destroying said warriors was one to be hunted. The fact that she had sent those warriors to kill the demon, and that it most likely acted in self-defense, didn't change the fact that it challenged the might of the Amazons. The body of the foreigner was a clue. Could it be used to determine the identity of the demon, or at least its reason for leaving? Only time and some research would tell. Now that some of the villages were returning to their homes, it would be easier to gather that information.   
  
This tragedy brought about a great opportunity however: if her great granddaughter were to bring back the head of this demon, she would be undisputed in her claim for matriarch when she herself passed on the title. Not only would that clearly demonstrate her great granddaughter's power, but her cunning as well. Yes, a quest worthy of the next matriarch. Only the dead witnessed the grin that cracked her old face as thoughts of Shampoo's future triumphs filled her head.   
A/N: - I took more time on the author's notes since I got a complaint about the rushed state of my previous author's notes. I hope this is better.   
  
- I modeled Ranma's Neko behavior after that of a panther, with a little modification. In case you hadn't guessed, by killing his father, his trainer, he gained some mastery over the neko-ken. While in his feral state he had full mastery, that like any other skill grew and increased in strength over time. It was all instinctual, however, once he regained his humanity he lost all of the skill he had gained. Now he has been snapped out of his feral state he effectively needs to relearn it. Along with putting together his own Anything Goes style from what he remembers from his fights with Genma. It should be noted that for anything combat related Ranma has a photographic memory.   
  
- It should be obvious that Genma would view what is occurring very differently than Ranma. At this time Ranma has the mentality of a cat, a predator. He is simply hunting for food and the larger prey represent a better feed. Genma sees his son killing using a martial arts technique and this he finds morally reprehensible.   
  
- How would you behave after waking up in an unfamiliar place surrounded by a massacre? At age seven, Ranma's behavior is probably as believable as any other. Shock can make people do some strange things, no matter how old or mature.   
  
- Ranma was mature for a seven year old. Some of that has to do with living alone with his father, combined with constant traveling, mostly though it has to do with his limited mastery over the Neko-ken.   
  
- Some might think I'm being extremely kind to Genma. Well I am, but then I've watched the anime, which doesn't portray him nearly as bad as the manga. Also, I'm the author, so it is my privilege.   
  
*************   
So where now? Well, I've got a few ideas, a few possible ideas, and depending on response and or suggestions... 


	2. Comes Shampoo

Untamed Neko   
  
Once again thanks to WarpWizard for doing a once over. His help is greatly appreciated.  
  
For what they have done to Me, let them be scattered and hunted where once they   
  
congregated and ruled, let them know weakness and fear where once they only knew   
  
strength and fearlessness, and let their overweening pride be crushed.   
  
  
  
- The curse of Bast  
  
  
  
Ch2   
  
  
  
Bast was ranting, it seemed that she had been doing little but rant for the last 3 millennia.   
  
Normally one would be hesitant to draw Bast's ire, her name didn't translate to 'She Who   
  
Scratches, Rends And Tears At Night' for nothing. In fact, if it weren't for her job as   
  
personal hit man and primary hunter for Ra, then her rages would have gotten her into a   
  
lot more trouble.  
  
  
  
She was currently ranting at a select group of mortals, her children in fact. It was a little   
  
known fact among the Egyptian pantheon that she had gone through a mortal fetish   
  
phase. Exactly 5346 years ago she had a relationship with a group of mortals whose sole   
  
purpose had been to provide material to help her conceive a crèche of children that   
  
would, she hoped, achieve great things on the mortal plane. Great things that would   
  
spread her fame across the land and gain her an almost unlimited supply of worshippers   
  
and power.   
  
  
  
It was a great plan, it was her plan and it was all going so well. Over the next millennia   
  
her children established a priesthood in her honor and she began to gain popularity   
  
through the often-miraculous abilities of her children - they had been born of god as well   
  
as mortal after all.   
  
  
  
That all ended however, when they forgot who it was who gave them life, who created   
  
them – that they were supposed to obey her as dutiful children should. "What did they   
  
do!" screeched Bast to an empty room, well caught up in her rant now. "They started   
  
depicting me, ME as a common house cat, AND FOR WHAT?! MORTAL PROFIT   
  
AND MORTAL POWER!!!"   
  
  
  
As she watched the power and wealth of her children increase over the next millennia her   
  
favor had decreased until she abandoned her children to their own fate and moved onto   
  
other projects in disgust. "As if mortal wealth and power could ever compare to the favor   
  
of any god, much less my own," she snorted in derision. So she had washed her hands of   
  
them and watched them eventually lose everything that they had gained. Over the next 3   
  
millennia she watched as the image of the cat had gone from being worshipped, as it had   
  
been under her careful cultivation, to one that was hated and despised. She watched her   
  
image, the cat, go from meaning viciousness, tenacity, and cunning but also being known   
  
as a protector of warriors, women and children - to being known as an image of perfidy,   
  
the ultimate representation of evil and bewitchment.   
  
  
  
Her children went from being rich and powerful, almost being worshipped in their own   
  
right on the mortal plane, to being hunted down and killed on principle over the course of   
  
those 3 millennia. All this she watched, because the world went from thinking of her as   
  
the desert cat she was, one that was ferocious in fury and strength, to thinking of her as   
  
some- some- DOMESTICATED CAT!  
  
"IT'S A DAMN INSULT!!" she roared.   
  
  
  
"But…it's an insult that doesn't deserve the termination of my children," she thought,   
  
"And with the way things are going, they will be beyond even my help after another few   
  
generations. Well, I'll give them one last chance before I rip out their hearts and place   
  
them at the feet of Ra as the failed experiments they'll have become." Suddenly she   
  
smiled, the sudden change in mood would have put fear into the lesser and some of the   
  
greater gods of her pantheon, "And all that is required is that a single female cub gets   
  
lost." The maniacal laughter would have brought chills to the remaining greater gods, had   
  
they heard it. After all, not many had the power, skill or inclination to cross Bast when   
  
she was in one of her moods.   
  
  
  
________________________________________________________________________   
  
  
  
Tef mery-Bast had so wanted to see the above world. The world that she had heard so   
  
much about but wasn't allowed to see. It was so frustrating, now that she was ten years   
  
old - double digits - she was no longer a little girl in her book, and yet she was still   
  
refused even the smallest glimpse of the world she craved to see. So she had snuck out,   
  
not realizing how big everything was and just how hostile to her kind, now she was lost.   
  
No, worse than that, she was SCARED and lost. It wasn't because she was lost that she   
  
was scared. It was the mob that had been chasing her. At first she just ignored the strange   
  
looks that she had received as she walked down the huge streets. Tef had even ignored it   
  
when people stared to scamper away at the sight of her; she was too busy taking in this   
  
strange new world that was all around her.   
  
  
  
It wasn't until the mob had started gathering that she remembered her parents' warnings   
  
and the reason why it was that she had not been allowed out. "They do not understand,   
  
Tef and if you are ever caught they will hurt you," they had told her. That was inevitably   
  
followed by the advice to run and hide if she was ever spotted. So that is what she had   
  
done. Tef had run as fast and as hard as she could and she had become lost and scared,   
  
more so when she couldn't find any place to hide from the mob that continued to dog her   
  
trail.   
  
  
  
Now, with her back to a brick wall, she realized she had just been cornered in a blind   
  
alley. She expected her doom to come quickly after that, but the mob just crowded   
  
around and started to build some construct of wood and rope that sent chills down her   
  
spine. She had no idea where she was or where her parents were at the moment, but she   
  
thought that maybe that was the least of her worries, as she stole another look at the   
  
construct that was being assembled at the far end of the alley. She was trapped, but the   
  
images that flashed through her mind of the mob tearing her apart had been averted, at   
  
least until they finished what they were doing. As Tef shrunk back into a corner and   
  
shivered, she hoped that whatever they were doing would took them a lot longer.   
  
  
  
How had her people come to this, she thought, if what she had been told was to be   
  
believed, then her people was descended from the Goddess Bast - a goddess. As the   
  
children of Bast they had ruled and almost been worshiped themselves as gods. Now they   
  
were a hunted people, on the run from demon and humankind alike. Killed whenever they   
  
were found, she had not believed it, but from what she could see of the mob she believed   
  
it now; every word of it. Still, how could they have fallen so far, were they really   
  
descended from a goddess, if so where was she now?   
  
  
  
Tef decided to do what she had promised herself she would never do again now that she   
  
was double digits and no longer a little girl: she whimpered and called for her mummy.   
  
She cried and even tried yowling but that just caused the mob to get meaner, finally she   
  
prayed that Bast really did love her as her name implied. Only that would get her out of   
  
the mess she had gotten herself into. Tef mery-Bast prayed for a miracle.   
  
  
  
She closed her eyes as the mob turned towards her with deadly intent, having finished   
  
building what she now recognized as a platform and noose. 'I will not scream, I will not   
  
be afraid,' Tef chanted to herself, not even aware that her bladder had emptied itself,   
  
though she did wonder at the slight warmth she felt along the inside of her leg. When she   
  
was grabbed and lifted into the air, despite her chanting and determination not to scream,   
  
she screamed.   
  
_______________________________________________________________________   
  
  
  
Shampoo had wondered why her daily lessons of martial arts had suddenly increased in   
  
intensity. She was, after all, only seven years old, and the next major stage in her training   
  
under her great grandmother Cologne was not meant to start for another few years. Even   
  
if she was to be the next matriarch her great-grandmother did not want to overwork her.   
  
Shampoo didn't mind though, martial arts were her life and she wanted to be the best, a   
  
goal that the extra training would ensure.   
  
  
  
The answer to her question came when her mother failed to come and visit her like she   
  
had promised. When asked, her great-grandmother explained all about the cat demon that   
  
had taken up residence nearby, affecting local trade. It was explained that her mother had   
  
bravely led an expedition of warriors to end the threat to the village and to expel or kill   
  
the demon, providing security and stability to the area and once again proving the   
  
superiority of the Amazon nation.   
  
  
  
It was then calmly explained to the seven year old that while successful in driving out the   
  
demon, the whole expedition had lost their lives. They would not be coming home.   
  
  
  
A lot of her friends lost mothers that day, the day that the demon had insulted the tribe by   
  
even questioning the might and superiority of the Amazon nation. It wasn't even worth   
  
mentioning that he had slaughtered a number of their best warriors, they must have been   
  
careless and walked into an ambush. Her increase in training was so that she could   
  
avenge her family and tribal honor in blood - demon blood.   
  
  
  
So she trained hard, harder than any other warrior in the village. Some thought her mad   
  
with grief, but her grandmother knew that she was driven - being the best in her   
  
generation was no longer enough, now she had to best that demon to once again prove   
  
that Amazon warriors were the best in the world, bar none. So she learned cunning,   
  
trickery and tactics from the oldest and wisest of the tribe and trained hard in the arts with   
  
Cologne.   
  
  
  
Finally, on her tenth birthday she was deemed ready to go out and start the hunt. She was   
  
the youngest in her tribe's history that had been allowed to go outside on a hunt. Being   
  
the strongest, smartest and most cunning ten year old the tribe had seen - outsmarting or   
  
out fighting some of the more experienced warriors in the tribe - helped greatly in   
  
persuading others that she was ready to leave on her own. A quick scry by her great   
  
grandmother to narrow the search and some language lessons to ease the transition with   
  
the outside world and she was off to make history.   
  
  
  
So here she was in a dusty Israeli town, wandering the streets and hoping that something   
  
would jump out at her. The reality surprised even her, a small demon just came walking   
  
down the street. If it were wearing more concealing clothing she doubted even she would   
  
have noticed, but that thin layer of fur and cat like ears were a dead give-away and the   
  
eyes! Shampoo shuddered as she made eye contact, the eyes of a cat, the eyes of a   
  
demon.   
  
  
  
It was a small matter to raise a mob of these stupid, suspicious foreigners. Their suspicion   
  
and distrust of her was soon outweighed by the stories she told of the cat demon, some   
  
true, some exaggerated and some made-up, all to get the job done. It seemed that the cat   
  
was viewed with fear and suspicion here as well - Shampoo had found in her journey that   
  
the cat was almost universally hated. Her stories were believed and a mob had been quick   
  
to form: for the safety of the community, this demon had to go. The war caused enough   
  
problems without adding demons into the mix. Things are never that simple, though, and   
  
once the mob had formed, Shampoo knew only it's or the demon's destruction would   
  
disperse it.   
  
  
  
She didn't mention that the demon could probably take out the whole mob of these   
  
foolish people without even trying, she needed a distraction after all and these people   
  
would do nicely. Shampoo couldn't even begin to believe her luck, it seemed that fate   
  
was really on her side - all that was required was for to come to this dust bowl and the   
  
demon had almost fallen right into her hands. So much the better, she'd avenge her tribe,   
  
reclaim the title of greatest warriors for the Amazons and bring its head back as a trophy   
  
for her family. Shampoo should have been a little bit suspicious at how things seemed to   
  
fit into place but in her excitement she couldn't see past the fulfillment of her plans.   
  
  
  
Everything was going to plan; the mob had formed and had cornered the thing in an alley.   
  
It had been a surprised when it had run though, why would it run? It probably had the   
  
power to level the entire town by now, if it had been able to defeat 15 premier amazons   
  
three years ago. It didn't bother her though, in fact it made things easier. If it didn't   
  
struggle then its death would come the sooner for it.   
  
  
  
Her preferred method of dealing with obstacles was the sword but these foolish people   
  
had actually wasted time building some sort of hanging device. Shampoo shrugged, she   
  
could not afford to attack it directly due to its power level, a level that it was hiding quite   
  
well - she couldn't even detect it - but so long as it died and she recovered the head she   
  
didn't care how it happened. She wished they would get on with it though, who knew   
  
what tricks it had up it's sleeve. The sun seemed to be falling. She just shrugged - the   
  
mob sure was taking its time.   
  
  
  
Shampoo scowled as the prey whimpered and begged for its life, even going so far as to   
  
call for its mommy, it didn't even have the decency to die like a warrior. Finally, she saw   
  
that the mob had finished it's construction and had turned to deal with the demon, who by   
  
now had started secreting some fluids (such a powerful being as Shampoo knew this   
  
demon to be would not wet itself in fear). She almost smiled in anticipation, her long   
  
awaited vengeance had almost come. This moment would be the culmination of three   
  
years of hard work and training in Amazon Wu Shu, strategy and cunning.   
  
  
  
It was then that Shampoo picked up a powerful chi source emanating from a nearby   
  
rooftop. How she could have possibly missed it, when it almost dwarfed her own, she   
  
didn't know. Before she could close in to investigate, it moved. It jumped down to the   
  
alley to snatch up the demon and fled the township, almost vanishing in the process -   
  
only intense concentration on her behalf allowed her to track it. Shampoo quickly moved   
  
to follow before she lost it altogether.   
  
  
  
Whoever it was had moved so fast that she had been unable to clearly make out more   
  
than basic size and shape and the small amount of information she had been able to pick   
  
up from it's aura. It was a human male judging by its aura - quite different from the   
  
demons - and young, if size was any indicator. Still, it was an obstacle and as her great   
  
grandmother used to say, "Obstacles are meant for killing and loose ends are meant for   
  
tying".   
  
  
  
________________________________________________________________________   
  
  
  
Ranma was frustrated; it had been three years since China. Three years and he had still   
  
not managed to master the catfist. That was not to say that he had not made progress, he   
  
had. Not only had his senses - both physical and danger - become much more sensitive,   
  
but his speed, flexibility and chi reserves had increased greatly as a result of what he had   
  
managed to master. Still, from what her remembered of what the Neko-ken was capable   
  
of, that was only the tip of the iceberg.   
  
  
  
He couldn't understand it, he had managed to learn whole schools in less than a tenth that   
  
time - not including the time taken to integrate it into his own martial style. Three   
  
years… Ranma shook his head. What he really needed was some time to focus solely on   
  
the Neko-ken, but was it worth the time taken from learning about different styles?   
  
  
  
It was a tough decision to make, he still had five years to go and he was well on his way   
  
to mastering his father's style. He had even managed to integrate a number of moves from   
  
various styles originating from all over China, Russia and more recently the Middle East.   
  
On the one hand he had reached the stage where he was confident that he had gained   
  
enough control over the Neko-ken such that he would not again regress into the feral   
  
state. On the other hand, the Neko-ken had proved a real boon when it had came to   
  
learning and merging other styles with his own. What to do?  
  
What he needed was a sign. Ranma shook his head, not that he believed in the existence   
  
of a God after some of the things he had seen and experienced on his training trip thus   
  
far.   
  
  
  
Ranma looked around the dusty township that he had been staying in for the last few   
  
months. It had been terrific training, not only had he trained in the local art of Krav   
  
Maga, but he had also been in the middle of a war zone - literally. Krav Maga had been   
  
developed for these very conditions and it gave a real edge to his own style. Facing   
  
shrapnel bombs, terrorists and local militia on a daily basis had been a real trial, but one   
  
that he had relished. It was an eye opener to see how well a martial artist could stand up   
  
to the tactics and technology of modern warfare, but it had also been a big blow to his   
  
ego. One could hardly be the best if someone with no combat experience could take you   
  
down with a well-placed gunshot or proximity bomb.   
  
  
  
The experience had sharpened his already exceptional skills, and also as a necessity   
  
caused Ranma to create a couple of very useful stealth and evasion techniques. His speed   
  
and reaction time had also increased drastically, he would not be living today if he had   
  
not. Ranma had lost count of the number of close shaves he had had. When he combined   
  
his new and increased skills with his chi blanketing technique there wasn't much that   
  
could catch Ranma unawares by the end of his training in Israel. Knowing a threat was   
  
coming didn't really help him deal with it sometimes, though. Which was precisely why   
  
he had developed his own stealth and evasion techniques, his father's were fine, but the   
  
satisfaction he got from developing his own was immense, and you never could have   
  
enough evasion and stealth techniques when it came to hiding. Then there was the   
  
problem of his father's techniques being so draining on his chi reserves. They just weren't   
  
effective when used in concert with his chi blanket, and that was too useful to let up.   
  
  
  
Ranma sighed. Despite his best efforts he still had not managed to increase and maintain   
  
his Ki blanket any further than a few hundred meters in any direction, and even that took   
  
insane amounts of food to fuel. Still, it was growing and he supposed he had to be   
  
satisfied with that.   
  
  
  
He would miss this place. As a parting gesture before Ranma left in search of further   
  
training, he flared his aura as much as he could, in order to get one more feel of the   
  
rhythm of the place he had called home for the last several months, firmly fixing his last   
  
impressions of this place in his mind.   
  
  
  
'Wait a minute,' he thought, 'What's going on?' He could feel the mob that had formed on   
  
the other end of the town and it didn't feel right. In fact if what his chi was telling him   
  
was correct - and he wasn't about to start doubting it now - someone was about to die.   
  
The feel of the mob's combined chi against his own made him quickly withdraw his aura.   
  
  
  
'That was just disgusting,' he shuddered, trying to get that horrid feeling out of his mind   
  
as he made his way closer to the mob. The last time he had felt something like that was   
  
when a local gang had thought to have some fun with some lost kid. Unluckily for them   
  
he was hungry - waste not, want not.   
  
It had been then that he had decided that they were both predators in society, and   
  
therefore it would not violate his code of protecting innocents. It was the opposite case -   
  
by cleaning up the streets, he was in fact protecting future victims. He was, however,   
  
very careful about choosing his prey, even those that attacked him, for he was very aware   
  
that he had started upon a path that could very easily lead into a very dark garden indeed.   
  
'I prefer the taste of beef anyway,' saying that, he had never eaten so well in his life after   
  
that.  
  
There were three main deterrents from traveling too far down that path: the first was the   
  
memory of his father, who would be horrified at the thought of his son becoming some   
  
kind of despot. The second was that he wasn't fooling himself when he told himself that   
  
he lacked the power and experience to be a real threat to some of the greater powers out   
  
there - he was only 10, Neko-ken training or no. Finally, well, the thought of becoming a   
  
despot really held no appeal to Ranma.   
  
  
  
Ranma was jarred out of his current line of thinking by the sight that confronted him once   
  
he reached the mob. It was immediately apparent what they planned to do: it was a   
  
lynching. Now sometimes there are reasons behind lynching and other public executions;   
  
he had seen the work of enough mass murderers and rapists to firmly agree with capital   
  
punishment. In his opinion, those that were against it had never been a victim of, or seen   
  
first hand, the results to said victims of those crimes. However, no reason was good   
  
enough to execute a young child.   
  
  
  
It was all he could do not to explode in anger; still, he restrained himself and studied the   
  
mob, searching for the trigger. Something had set this mob off; he doubted it had been   
  
spontaneous. Then he found it: a martial artist, of all people was slowly walking through   
  
the crowd, discretely escalating tensions against the child. 'A MARTIAL ARTIST!' he   
  
thought in anger. They were meant to protect people who could not protect themselves,   
  
the child quivering in the corner of the alley she had been trapped in certainly applied.   
  
When it became necessary to take a life they did it themselves, they did NOT stir up a   
  
mob to do it themselves.   
  
  
  
When the mob started to move towards the girl, Ranma acted. His aura flashing in anger   
  
and disgust - he had never seen actions so disgraceful in a martial artist - he jumped down   
  
from the rooftop he was standing on, grabbed the child and jumped away. He was   
  
planning on leaving anyway, Neko-ken training sounded good about now. He did not   
  
want to be around people right now, much less martial artists. Ranma felt so ashamed at   
  
their actions that he growled, not even realizing that the child in his arms was screaming.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: - I have depicted Bast as she was originally depicted in Kemetic Religion. Bast   
  
wasn't depicted with the domesticated cat imagery that has now become synonymous   
  
with Her until 1000 BCE, about 2000 years after the beginning of her worship. She was   
  
the raging hitman of Ra, who tore out the enemies' hearts and lay them at the pharaohs'   
  
or Ra's feet. Pakhet (lit. "She Who Scratches", "She Who Rends"). http://www.per-  
  
bast.org/bast/ was used as my resource on Bast. Interesting stuff on the mystical history   
  
of cats: http://www.sniksnak.com/lore.html   
  
- "Tef mery-Bast", Egyptian for, "Tef whom Bast loves". Tef was taken from "Tefnut",   
  
meaning tomorrow. There is a legend behind the name, if anyone is interested.   
  
  
  
- No one alive saw Ranma when he was in his Neko state, so no one would actually know   
  
what he looks like initially. Dead men tell no tales. As for Shampoo, I don't know   
  
anything about child psychology, but I would think that if a child who had just lost their   
  
mother (a traumatic enough experience for such a young child) was taken away and   
  
trained in the killing arts and constantly drilled with tales of revenge and killing, then   
  
their morality would be slightly warped.  
  
- Coming, a show down between Shampoo and Ranma - the first of many. Tef mery-Bast   
  
is an original character and not an SI. 


	3. The shattering of ideals

Untamed Neko   
  
  
  
I would just like to assure Warp-wizard my prereader for this piece of work that his help is valued and apreciated and that his help speaks for itself.  
  
Ch3: The shattering of an ideal   
  
  
  
Ranma sported a feral grin as he bounced away from the town he had been training in for   
  
the last several months. It seemed that the martial artist that so angered and disgusted him   
  
had decided to follow. Good.   
  
  
  
As soon as he reached the fields he had seen earlier upon entering the town there would   
  
be a reckoning. The open space would ensure that he could go all-out and not risk hurting   
  
any bystanders and judging by the martial artist's aura he would need to go all-out to be   
  
able to teach her the lesson that he wanted to. He wanted to be able to outclass her so   
  
much that he would be able to not only teach her a lesson but also humiliate her.   
  
  
  
Up until now, his father and all the other martial arts masters he had met had belonged to   
  
an ideal. All had been honorable men or women that had maintained a certain standard of   
  
conduct; this martial artist - a master judging from the strength of her aura - had   
  
effectively destroyed that ideal. No longer could he blithely say he was a martial artist   
  
without having to worry about any stigma being attached to that title. To Ranma this   
  
incident was an epiphany; a master martial artist did not automatically become a moral   
  
martial artist. The martial artist following him was proof of that; it definitely was not   
  
moral to raise a lynch mob against a child.   
  
  
  
Did that mean that there were others out there that conflicted with his view of what a   
  
martial arts master should be? If that were the case, was his ideal wrong, was the man he   
  
idealized - his father - really the man he thought him to be? His father had been a moral   
  
master martial artist who taught him the code he tried to live by. Was the code that he had   
  
been taught even worth following now, knowing that his father may not have been the   
  
paradigm of morality and martial arts that he had always thought that he had been?   
  
  
  
Ranma hated the self-doubt that this martial arts master had instilled in him, the doubts   
  
and questions that she caused him to have about his father. He snarled at the realization   
  
that the way that he looked at, judged and read people would never be the same thanks to   
  
this martial arts master. He didn't know whether to kill her or thank her for that. Ranma   
  
knew that if he didn't continue to question things throughout his life then his thinking   
  
would stagnate and his ability to adapt to situations would further be limited but to cause   
  
him to question something so fundamental as his ideals and the very image he held of his   
  
father angered him. Still, raising a mob against a child was reprehensible and she   
  
deserved to be taught a lesson for that if not for the shattering of his own ideals. If her   
  
behavior didn't change he knew that she would cause huge problems in the world at   
  
large, not the least of which was permanently tainting the image of martial artists in   
  
general.   
  
  
  
Screaming pierced the fog of his thoughts; it was the child he had rescued. While he   
  
didn't have to worry about entering the feral Neko state, at times of emotional extremes   
  
his behavior became more catlike than was usual. Which was one thing he wanted to gain   
  
more control over, since it had caused some problems in public situations before.   
  
  
  
It was, however, something he was having less than no luck in gaining control of. With   
  
all the snarling and raging he had been doing, on top of the harrowing experience the   
  
child in his arms had just been through, it was no wonder the child was petrified.   
  
  
  
"Calm down, you are safe now - no one is going to hurt you," he said, trying to force   
  
himself to calm down as well. The aura of anger and disgust that he had been putting out   
  
probably didn't help in calming the child either. He had found strong auras affected those   
  
around him - some more than others, with children being especially susceptible.   
  
  
  
Once he had calmed down himself and replaced his aura with one of tranquility instead of   
  
the one of anger and disgust he had been putting out earlier he could see the child   
  
gradually calming down. Seeing the child starting to calm down Ranma decided it would   
  
be a perfect opportunity to take a closer look at the child he had rescued from the mob in   
  
the alley.   
  
  
  
It was a big surprise, Ranma hadn't seen anything like it; in fact he didn't even think it   
  
was human. The thin layer of fur that covered it's face, plus the cat-like eyes and the   
  
strange ears didn't fit what he would call normal. Still, it had shown some measure of   
  
intelligence and a display of emotion that in Ranma's book was human enough. After all,   
  
he had met people on his trip that had displayed neither, and they were not hunted down   
  
and killed by lynch mobs nor were they children. Even then, people didn't string up   
  
animals for fun - that was just sadistic.   
  
  
  
"My name is Ranma, the mob is some distance away and cannot harm you," Ranma   
  
repeated, further calming the child down. Who or what this child was no longer mattered   
  
in his mind, more important he thought was finding out what had happened and   
  
confronting and teaching the rogue martial arts master a lesson. "Now do you mind   
  
telling me what happened back there?"   
  
  
  
Ranma wanted a clearer picture of what was happening before he confronted the martial   
  
artist. So he continued to keep pace maintaining his lead over the trailing martial artist   
  
and waited for some answers from the child in his arms. He had found out the hard way   
  
that it was foolish to jump into situations without any knowledge about what was going   
  
on. It could and had on occasions blown up in his face.   
  
  
  
The girl tightened her grip on him before replying to his question, "My parents warned   
  
me that going outside was dangerous, they said that the big people would want to hurt   
  
me. I had never been outside before and I wanted to see it, I'm ten now. Why do they   
  
want to hurt me, is it because I'm Mait?" With that she curled up into a tighter ball   
  
against his chest and started sobbing.   
  
  
  
Ranma did his best to comfort the child in his arms without slowing down from his run.   
  
He needed some time to think, and to clear his mind. Having spent the majority of the last   
  
five years away from society, training, and the rest of that time training under masters   
  
and other martial artists he knew it took him longer to react to social situations than other   
  
people. It was not high on his list of things to do - to socialize, plenty of time to do that   
  
once he had completed his training journey. As a result most people found him to be a bit   
  
rough around the edges.   
  
  
  
Arriving at the field he had been running to, Ranma stopped, it was time to confront the   
  
martial artist who had started all this mess. A confrontation would likely occur anyway,   
  
unless he ran away, and he refused to run from this fight. It was too much of a   
  
coincidence that the martial arts master was following him now; when this child had been   
  
targeted. Ranma's feral grin once again adorned his face, he would teach her a lesson she   
  
would not forget; raising lynch mobs against children is just not on.   
  
  
  
Ranma glanced down at the child who had fallen asleep in his arms; he would have to be   
  
very careful so that he/she would not get hurt. The fight would need to be kept down to a   
  
non-lethal level and with the other martial artist out for blood Ranma knew that would be   
  
difficult. With his own combat potential restricted so much it would be nigh impossible.   
  
  
  
Even though he had never tried fighting without the use of his arms, or even trained with   
  
introduced handicaps he knew this fight would be okay. If nothing else his style excelled   
  
in adaptation and he had spent the last three years trying to increase its flexibility and   
  
versatility, something that the inclusion of the Neko-ken and other styles achieved   
  
admirably. Ranma knew that after another five years of hard work he would have earned   
  
the title of Master of his school.   
  
  
  
This was just another trial to work through, another obstacle in his path something to   
  
work through, another challenge in his quest of mastery. Ranma could sense the large chi   
  
source approaching, it wouldn't be long now.   
  
________________________________________________________________________   
  
  
  
Shampoo was not happy. Her prey had just been snatched, her perfect plan thwarted.   
  
Now the one responsible was playing with her by just keeping himself far enough away   
  
so that she could follow him but too far for any decent attack. It had only been moments   
  
but already she was growing annoyed since she was no closer to catching him and her   
  
prey the cat demon.   
  
  
  
Wasn't she an Amazon, superior in every way? The fact that his aura was larger was just   
  
ignored since size didn't count as much as skill. She would show him the error of his   
  
ways; no one crossed the Amazon nation and lived. By wresting her prey away from her   
  
like that he was definitely obstructing Amazon justice. The greatest martial artist in three   
  
generations had taught her, she herself was the greatest in her own generation. This   
  
upstart would be nothing against her skill and 3000 years of Amazon tradition.   
  
  
  
Then he stopped. She let out a growl of anger and put on a final burst of speed to catch up   
  
to the annoying obstacle. What she found was little surprising; a boy of about her own   
  
age was holding her prey while it was curled up in his chest, evidence that it had been   
  
crying could be seen by the dampness of his shirt.   
  
  
  
How did a boy not much older than her be able to generate such a large aura? She had the   
  
matriarchs of the Amazon Nation teaching her and no one could match their teaching and   
  
instruction could they? Only two answers presented themselves to Shampoo's mind. The   
  
first, there were greater teachers out there - here was living proof. Or two, this boy had a   
  
greater potential than she did. But then she had the greatest potential in a thousand years   
  
and she was an Amazon warrior. Neither of those two solutions was of any use or   
  
acceptable to the young Amazon.   
  
  
  
She now had two targets that needed to die, two scalps to collect; one of necessity and   
  
one for the sake of her own personal prestige. There couldn't be many that had an aura   
  
the size of the one standing in front of her, not at that age anyway.   
  
  
  
Without even an "Evil cat demon die!" she charged forward, firing blasts of chi as she   
  
went. The way he had trouble dodging her blasts just confirmed her view that he was   
  
indeed an inferior opponent.   
  
  
  
Once she had closed to an effective range she started to pound him with the Kachu   
  
Tenshin Amaguriken. It was appropriate at such a time to inform him of his crimes, "For   
  
being an obstacle to the Amazon nation's demon hunt, I, Shampoo, have deemed that you   
  
must die. You and the cat demon."   
  
  
  
Shampoo was quite impressed at the rate at which her opponent was soaking up damage,   
  
still it mattered not - it was just a matter of time before he fell. No one could absorb the   
  
amount of damage she was dishing out without suffering for it, and the obstacle just made   
  
it easier for her by trying to protect the little demon.   
  
  
  
After a few minutes of pounding Shampoo started getting a little worried. The boy   
  
showed no signs of dropping and the fight was taking longer than she was used to. She   
  
had been going all out, thinking to end the fight with the Tenshin Amaguriken, however   
  
he was just not falling. He too must be a demon she decided, to be able to take so much   
  
damage. Regardless, Shampoo found herself to be running out of energy and if he started   
  
to fight back, no matter how poorly, she would be in trouble.   
  
  
  
Quickly taking stock of the situation, Shampoo started to lead the boy and the demon he   
  
was protecting into a spiral, all the while pounding at him from all sides. Despite his   
  
inhuman endurance she could see that he was weakening slowly. Shampoo just hoped   
  
that her planned finishing move would disable him long enough for her to end the fight,   
  
permanently for the two demons.   
  
  
  
All of her hard training was finally paying off. She had confronted the cat demon who   
  
had even gained a demonic ally and she was winning or she would win once she finished   
  
the spiral, something that her great grandmother had been skeptical of her doing. Not that   
  
she blamed her Great Grandmother, after all he had killed 15 Amazon warriors. Shampoo   
  
just attributed it to the harsh training she had put herself through. Apart from the few   
  
lucky shots that the obstacle had gotten in, she had done it relatively injury free.   
  
  
  
Finally, she reached the center of the spiral and with a final blow she called out her   
  
finishing attack: "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" The expected funnel appeared and lifted both the   
  
obstacle and the evil cat demon into the air. Shampoo collapsed and waited for the two to   
  
crash to the ground so that she could collect their scalps. She had never seen this   
  
particular finisher fail before, so she had no reason to doubt that it would now.   
  
  
  
"That's not supposed to happen," Shampoo mumbled as the funnel spat the obstacle and   
  
the demon over the horizon, far out of reach for the exhausted martial artist, instead of at   
  
her feet ready for quick finish. Her hopes for a quick victory were crushed - this was   
  
quickly becoming a habit when dealing with the annoying obstacle. What was once a   
  
simple matter of go here, kill this and be back in time for the autumn festival was now a   
  
full-scale hunt with multiple targets. "Shampoo knew it too easy," she muttered to   
  
herself.   
  
  
  
So what happened? She had outclassed the obstacle in skill and speed; she had controlled   
  
the fight throughout. By rights she should be standing over their bodies collecting their   
  
scalps right now. How had he been able to get one up on her? Even she didn't know that   
  
there was a weakness in that technique, so how did he?   
  
  
  
"This is not over obstacle and too too evil cat demon!" she screamed out in the direction   
  
she had last seen them heading. Right now she needed to recoup her energy and train. It   
  
would not happen again, victory would not be snatched from her grasp.   
  
  
  
________________________________________________________________________   
  
  
  
Tef mery Bast woke up when her bed suddenly jumped and continued jumping. Opening   
  
her eyes she found herself in someone's arms, not her familiar bed like she thought, it   
  
was then she remembered. Her birthday, her exciting trip to the outside and the mob.   
  
  
  
The terrifying realization that she was going to die at their hands, only to be snatched   
  
from deaths door by a stranger. At first she had thought that he was one of them but   
  
though he didn't look it, he had the mannerisms of a Mau. How one of them reminded   
  
her of her father she didn't know, especially one her age. When he comforted her though,   
  
she knew that everything was going to be all right. She had gone to sleep in his arms   
  
hoping that when she woke up it would all be a dream; a terrifying dream for sure, but   
  
only a dream.   
  
  
  
She did wake up and what she saw scared her even more than the mob. With the mob,   
  
even with the realization that she would die, she was comforted by the fact that her   
  
friends and family were still safe. Now, it seemed that not only would she die but the one   
  
who saved her would as well. The one that reminded her of her father, the one whose   
  
name was Ranma. Already in an attempt to shield her he was barely avoiding the bolts of   
  
light that Shampoo was shooting. She didn't know why or how she was being an obstacle   
  
to the Amazon nation or why she had to die for it. That however was what Shampoo   
  
seemed to think.   
  
  
  
Tef flinched every time a meaty "thunk" sounded, indicating that Ranma had taken a hit.   
  
The fact that all of the hits were taken because he was shielding her made her feel guilty.   
  
Hearing a cry of "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" the tempo of the meaty "thunks"   
  
increased. She could feel his body flinching and shuddering, it was enough to make her   
  
want to scream "Stop, let her kill me, just get away!" Tef knew that he wouldn't though;   
  
his crystal blue eyes held hers and seemed to communicate concern for her and an almost   
  
casual dismissal of all the damage being done to his own body.   
  
  
  
Tef didn't know how he could stand it; she knew that she would have crumbled after the   
  
first blow. After what seemed to her like hours it stopped, she didn't notice that they had   
  
been launched into the air; she was just to relieved that her savior had stopped being   
  
pounded. When she did notice that they were currently airborne she almost screamed   
  
again, once again Ranma's crystal blue eyes reassured her. She was reassured that she   
  
was safe with him; he wouldn't let anything hurt her.   
  
  
  
What to do now though? She knew that she couldn't return home to her friends and   
  
family, they would already have fled from the hysteria of the mob. Once again she looked   
  
up at Ranma from where she was curled against his chest. She felt safe with him, and she   
  
definitely did not want to face another mob. Would he have her? She hoped so.   
  
  
  
________________________________________________________________________   
  
  
  
Ranma had clearly underestimated his opponent. "Shampoo" she called herself, she was   
  
much more skilled than her aura suggested. A couple of flaws in her style allowed him to   
  
survive their encounter though, however handicapped as he was, he couldn't exploit them   
  
but there was always next time.   
  
  
  
She wasted frivolously her store of chi or life energy to do no more than increase her   
  
speed. Sure, her technique boosted her speed enormously, but Ranma could never see   
  
himself using such a technique. It smacked too much of weapons use, an artificial boost   
  
in speed by temporarily boosting the chi flows in her arms. He would work hard in   
  
developing and strengthening those flows through training to achieve the same results. A   
  
reliance on techniques that artificially boosted endurance or speed would be disastrous in   
  
a fighter. A view that was vindicated when she effectively ran her reserves dry. It was a   
  
strategy that might have been effective on a lesser opponent, Ranma thought smugly.   
  
  
  
Her final technique was a godsend. He wasn't totally unscathed after their encounter and   
  
a quick exit was in order, he had a child to think of after all. The Neko-ken and his   
  
father's secret techniques gave him a unique view on the manipulation of chi. This   
  
allowed him to quickly determine how the spiral of chi-fueled air was constructed. It was   
  
a short step from that to being ale to manipulate the tornado created by the Hiryu Shoten   
  
Ha.   
  
  
  
Ranma looked at Shampoo as he quickly flew from the site of the fight. She looked as   
  
bad she no doubt felt after expending such large amounts of her life energy. Looking   
  
down at the child in his arms some of the rage and disgust that he felt towards Shampoo   
  
left him. The child in his arms looked remarkably catlike - if that wasn't a sign he didn't   
  
know what was.   
  
  
  
Never again would he ask for a sign; Ranma didn't think he could handle the results.   
  
Still, he had asked and he had received: Neko-ken training it was.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
** Before I start my A/N I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to review   
  
this on-going saga. All the reviews help me in some regard and are received in the faith   
  
that they were written and greatly appreciated as such. The next stop from here is Tokyo   
  
where in Tokyo –it's a surprise. However, before I publish the next chapter I would   
  
love some really long, detailed reviews. A vote would also be nice: what match up do you   
  
want to see. **   
  
  
  
A/N: - In ancient Egypt male cats were called Mau and females Mait.   
  
  
  
-No matter how mature Ranma is, he is still ten and a bit of hero worship for a dead   
  
parent is common for a ten year old. But everyone comes to the realization that maybe his   
  
or her parents aren't perfect. Sometimes that realization can be quite an adjustment.   
  
  
  
-Sometimes it can be difficult to determine the gender of a clothed ten-year-old child.   
  
Especially if they have unusual facial features.   
  
  
  
-Many of my readers if I have any by this stage might have a problem with Ranma   
  
getting his butt handed to him in a fight against Shampoo when he clearly has the   
  
advantage in both style and training. Let's keep in mind however that he had his arms full   
  
- literally.   
  
  
  
-For those of you who don't know, the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken is a rapid punch   
  
technique. These punches are often too fast to be blocked by a normal opponent. The   
  
Hiryu Shoten Ha is a technique that uses the opponents aura against them by creating a   
  
tornado fueled by their own aura. It is supposed to lift them up, then once they're dry it'll   
  
slam them back into the ground. 


	4. Welcome NekoShampoo

Ch4: Untamed Neko  
  
A big thanks to my pre-reader WarpWizard, he is doing a great job and everyone   
  
should know it.  
  
Welcome Neko-Shampoo  
  
Soun sat outside the Tendo dojo on his lanai facing the koi pond, his back to   
  
the house. In his hands he held a letter that he had been expecting for over a   
  
year. He had been both dreading and hoping for the arrival of this very letter.   
  
From the address he could tell that it had come from his old training partner   
  
Genma, which meant that he had finally finished his training journey with his   
  
son and was on his way to visit.   
  
At least that was what he assumed; Soun didn't know anyone else who lived in   
  
China and no one had addressed him as a master of the Tendo School of Anything   
  
Goes since shortly after his wife had died. It shamed him to admit it, but he   
  
had lost a lot of drive and focus after she had died. Without that drive and   
  
focus, his school and family had fallen into disarray as he retreated from the   
  
world in grief.  
  
Soun tried to remember back to the last time he had seen Genma, eleven years   
  
ago, right after they had sealed away their horrid Master and Genma left with   
  
his son on their training journey. Ranma, when he returned, Genma vowed would be   
  
a master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes. They would then join their   
  
schools and families in marriage. Between his Tendo school and Genma's Saotome   
  
school theirs would be the most deadly martial art in the world. Soun knew that   
  
Genma would have raised his son to be a man among men so there would be no   
  
question of their children not getting along.  
  
From what he could remember of his friend Genma he had been the most honorable   
  
and driven martial artist that Soun had known at the time, one that put the art   
  
and the school in which he belonged before everything except for his family; as   
  
it should be. In most cases though he tried to involve his family with his   
  
school so priorities was a moot point.  
  
Genma had been much like he himself had been in those days, which combined by   
  
the harrowing training by their most unspeakable master, was why they had made   
  
such an agreement. An arranged marriage would bring their families closer much   
  
like the accursed master's training trips brought he and Genma closer together.   
  
The benefits to their respective schools though could not be ignored.  
  
So when Genma had finished training his son in his own family art, Genma had   
  
promised Soun that he would bring his son to his dojo to fulfill their pledge.   
  
There, Genma's son would meet and hopefully marry one of the Tendo daughters   
  
uniting both families and schools. It had been a grand scheme and one that still   
  
held appeal to him though not as much as it once did.  
  
Only a year after Genma had taken his son on his training trip his wife had   
  
tragically died. Soun wept at the memory, which was still fresh in his mind. The   
  
aggressive tumor lodged in her brain had quickly stolen her life, leaving him   
  
bereft of a wife and his three daughters bereft of a mother.  
  
Over the years he had watched his three daughters close down as they coped on   
  
their own in their own way, while he had closed himself off with grief. His   
  
eldest Kasumi had taken over the household in an attempt to replace the vacuum   
  
that they had and still all felt with the loss of Kamiko. His middle daughter   
  
grabbed hold of the finances for the household and dojo since after his wife had   
  
died Soun could not bear to do much of anything including continue teaching in   
  
his dojo.   
  
Finally his youngest daughter Akane found release in martial arts, something   
  
that would have thrilled him just weeks before his wife's death. Now though it   
  
left the taste of ashes in his mouth. What she practiced was not so much martial   
  
arts but controlled violence and that Soun thought sadly to himself was his   
  
fault. As the resident master of his dojo and the grandmaster over the style   
  
that his youngest was supposedly learning it was shameful that he had let it   
  
continue.  
  
It was this reason that Soun had dreaded this very letter, the feeling of shame   
  
that filled him whenever he thought of his actions over the years and the state   
  
of his family. The fact that he had done nothing over the years but be content   
  
to watch it all go on only made it worse. Soun had no doubt in his mind that   
  
Genma would not have done such a poor job in his place. He would not have let   
  
both his school and his family fall into such a pit of disrepair.   
  
Soun without even reading the letter in his hands suddenly felt inspired to fix   
  
his mistakes. To rebuild his school and his family, with Genma's help he would   
  
not have to do it alone. Genma would help his old friend and training partner   
  
rebuild his school and family, he would provide the necessary backbone and   
  
encouragement needed to move on and finally live life again. Soun stopped his   
  
reminiscing and plan making in wonder, was this what he had been waiting for all   
  
along, the return of his old friend and training partner to help him pick up the   
  
pieces. Was he that dependant on others after his wife's death?  
  
Soun sighed and opened the letter. Immediately he knew that something was wrong,   
  
the friend that he remembered was more likely to write just enough to make   
  
himself understood even if it meant leaving most of the letter blank. Something   
  
along the lines of 'bringing my son to visit - Genma' or even 'bringing Ranma -   
  
Genma', the letter from China was a fairly lengthy in comparison. His stomach   
  
churning in trepidation Soun started to read the letter.  
  
His shoulders slumped as he read of his friend's death but picked up again at   
  
the news of his son still visiting. Ranma was still coming despite his father's   
  
death, Soun shook his head, he should never have doubted the boy after all he   
  
was his father's son. Soun had no doubt that he had grown up to be as honorable   
  
as his father- perhaps even more so if that was possible.   
  
Soun's frown turned into a grin of anticipation, after such a lengthy training   
  
trip Ranma must be quite skilled. Despite mourning his friend's passing Soun was   
  
still a martial artist at heart and nothing stirred his blood more than a   
  
healthy display of skill, something that his youngest daughter lacked. She   
  
instead preferred relying on her almost inhuman strength and brawn.  
  
It was the end of an era in some respects; he and Genma would never again have   
  
the grand adventures or go on the grueling training trips that they once did.   
  
Genma's death and the master's imprisonment made sure of that. 'Still', he   
  
thought, 'It's for the best, leaving such things to the younger generation -   
  
life was supposed to go on after all and people did tend to grow old.' Soun   
  
thought while easing his aching back.   
  
It was past time for him to fix some of his mistakes and once again become the   
  
master that he had once been. He couldn't bear for Genma's only son to see what   
  
he had become after the years since his wife had died. While as a fellow master   
  
of Anything Goes he could rely on Ranma to help him in school matters, the rest   
  
required his own attention.   
  
Well, the first mistake he needed to rectify was to inform his daughters of the   
  
arranged marriage. Soun braced himself: this would not be pretty.  
  
"Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane. Kasumi!!"  
  
"Yes daddy?"  
  
"Nabiki!!"  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"Akane!! Where is that girl? I've an important announcement to make." 'Nabiki   
  
will get her', he thought as he made his way to the table waiting for the rest   
  
of his family. They were good girls he decided; maybe they wouldn't baulk as   
  
much as he thought.   
  
"The son of a very good friend of mine and a master of the Saotome school of   
  
Anything Goes will be arriving soon," Soun started as his family gathered around   
  
him. "I received word today that his father died in some sort of a training   
  
accident on their 11 year training trip, so he is coming to visit. "If one of   
  
you girls were to marry him and carry on the dojo then the Tendo and Saotome   
  
family legacy would be secure."  
  
"Wait a minute, don't we have a choice about who we marry!!" interrupted Akane.   
  
'mmm' thought Soun as his daughters baulked 'Maybe I was mistaken. Well, it's no   
  
more than I deserved for letting such matters slide.'  
  
"Akane's right daddy, we haven't even met him," stated Nabiki as she joined the   
  
argument. "Do you know anything else about him other than he is the son of your   
  
dear departed friend and a master of our sister school?" 'Maybe Nabiki can be   
  
turned around with some persuading,' Soun thought as he considered his middle   
  
daughters response.  
  
"Well actually, his letter was a little short and lacking in detail, but since   
  
he is coming to visit there will be plenty of time to become acquainted. From   
  
what he mentioned in his letter his training trip took him all around the world.   
  
As soon as he gets back from China, you can ask him to fill in some missing   
  
details." 'Hook, line and sinker, well that's definitely got Nabiki interested   
  
but Kasumi's been awfully quiet and I don't think I'll ever be able to persuade   
  
Akane.'  
  
"Wow!" 'Maybe he's rich,' thought Nabiki 'If he spent ten years tripping around   
  
he has to have some resources I can use.'  
  
"Yeah right a master, I bet I could beat him in a fight," 'Stupid father and his stupid ideas,   
  
just another pervert boy to deal with,' Akane thought, remembering the Hentai   
  
brigade that she dealt with every morning. 'What's worse is he's going to be   
  
living here.'  
  
"How old is he? Younger men bore me." Kasumi was a little annoyed at her father   
  
for engaging one of them like this, on such short notice too. She was a little   
  
hopeful that she would have someone her own age to talk to, with all the chores   
  
she had little time to devote to herself or to a social life, still, she had   
  
hoped for a little romance before marriage.  
  
Thankfully he was saved from any further protests from his three daughters by   
  
knocking at the door. "Ah, we have visitors." 'Can that be him already?' "Kasumi   
  
could you kindly escort our guests to the table."  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma absorbed the atmosphere of the surrounding district as he headed to the   
  
Tendo dojo; it had become a habit for him. Not only did it highlight any trouble   
  
spots and potential meals but it also gave him an idea of the area's layout in   
  
case he was attacked unexpectedly.  
  
He could feel all the chi signatures that marked the populace, with the stronger   
  
ones marking the martial artists. There were a few darker signatures that   
  
represented his usual menu of drug lords, crime bosses and mass murderers, which   
  
bore looking into. Though only the darkest of them would find themselves on his   
  
list and only then if there were no other available food, a doubtful scenario in   
  
civilization but it had happened.   
  
Apart from the darkest of the auras, which he always took a note of when   
  
entering a new area, they're only a few others worth noticing. These were the   
  
unusually large or focused ones that represented skilled martial artists or   
  
other professional athletes, Ranma hoped that among those few was Soun Tendo -   
  
the master of the sister school to his own.   
  
It would be a big disappointment if Soun proved to be a whole lot less skilled   
  
than he himself was. His school had a reputation as being the best to maintain   
  
after all. His school, now that he had completed his training trip and fully   
  
mastered his fathers techniques he considered himself a master of his own   
  
school. Certainly no one had questioned his skill in years.   
  
At his side strode his constant companion over the last six years. Tef mery Bast   
  
had been someone whom he could always rely on. She was someone that he could   
  
always talk to and someone who understood him, at least as much as he let anyone   
  
understand him. He was a little disappointed when she declined his offer of   
  
learning martial arts but then he didn't blame her. The harshness of the   
  
training regime he put himself through would he supposed seem a little insane to   
  
a someone who wasn't serious about practicing the martial arts and her ordeal as   
  
a child made her shy away from any violent confrontations.   
  
That's not to say that she had been idle over the last six years. Once she   
  
became used to the constant traveling she had turned her mind on the burning   
  
question of why. Why had those people been so willing to try and kill her back   
  
then? It didn't matter to him, he just accepted that it did happen and moved on.   
  
Tef though was almost as driven as he himself was when it came to martial arts.  
  
Ranma shrugged, she had needed something to occupy her mind while he focused on   
  
his martial arts and so he had supported her as much as she did him. It wasn't a   
  
totally wasted effort either, Tef had become just as good at judging and dealing   
  
with non-combat situations as he had at combat ones. She had helped avoid more   
  
than one stupid confrontation though that's not to say he shied from conflicts,   
  
just that he disliked pointless ones.  
  
Ranma grimaced; on the first half of his training trip it was always a dream to   
  
become the best martial artist in the world though now he no longer claimed to   
  
be a martial artist of any kind. Shampoo claimed that title and seeing her act   
  
like she did in the name of martial arts still soured his stomach remembering   
  
her actions, but at least he had been able to place a limit on her actions.   
  
A savage smile lit up his face; a nice friendly threat to wipe out her village   
  
if she continued to involve bystanders in her attempt to kill him had been   
  
enough to curb her more excessive behavior. Not even Tef was truly aware of what   
  
he was capable of these days and shampoo had bought his bluff. Shampoo had long   
  
since focused her attempts in trying to kill him; the beatings that he gave her   
  
were more severe if she went after Tef or involved bystanders.  
  
"Are you sure we have the right place Ranma?" Tef asked quietly at his side. He   
  
looked down at his traveling companion and smiled. Tef had grown to be quite   
  
beautiful over the years, not that she would show the world - she had learnt   
  
that lesson when she was ten.   
  
Instead she dressed in a heavy coat that hid a lot of her features, enough of a   
  
disguise to pass all but the closest scrutiny. "In all of our travels we have   
  
only found one other school of Anything Goes, and it is too big a coincidence   
  
that it is the Tendo school." He replied to her question still remembering his   
  
fathers last words "I'm sorry Tend...".   
  
Ranma sighed, it was a wonder that Tef had stayed with him all these years - he   
  
still didn't know why she did. He didn't think that it was because she had   
  
nowhere else to go; Tef was smart enough to be able to make something of herself   
  
without him. Still they had spent all of the previous year trying to track down   
  
her family and the rest of her people albeit unsuccessfully. Not that he   
  
complained, Tef was like a sister that he had never had.  
  
Ranma noticed Tef eyeing the crowds nervously as they walked along and stepped   
  
closer to reassure her. "There is no one around that can harm you Tef,"   
  
reminding her of his chi blanketing technique. While he could detect a few   
  
larger and more focused than normal Ki signatures, none of them were in his   
  
league or directed towards them.  
  
Tef just looked up at Ranma and mumbled, "That's what you said last time, just   
  
before Shampoo attacked us." It was perhaps to be expected that others would   
  
find counters to his techniques eventually, he found counters to other people's   
  
techniques easily enough. It was also a casual reminder not to become dependant   
  
on the one technique, which was incidentally what his school tried to teach.  
  
It was also dangerous to assume that any opponent was stupid, which is an easy   
  
way to get killed. Shampoo had been his sparring partner for six years and even   
  
though she was trying to kill him and her actions sometimes he found   
  
reprehensible Ranma had to respect her fighting ability. Those abilities kept   
  
him from becoming too complacent and also gave him an opportunity to try out   
  
some of his less lethal styles.  
  
"I'm pretty sure we left her in China Tef, we have a couple of weeks at least   
  
before we should start expecting an attack." Ranma wasn't worried, even though   
  
Shampoo had improved greatly over the years and sometimes had him worried by   
  
some of the techniques she picked up, their fights weren't as close as she   
  
sometimes liked to think. His control over the Neko-ken was always improving and   
  
he had not been idle in his training over the years either.  
  
For most of his training journey, Ranma had been pondering what he would do once   
  
he had finished. When his father died, he had been driven to learn and master   
  
his father's school. He would he decided continue on as a master where his   
  
father would have before him, being the best martial artist in the world his   
  
school would flourish under him.   
  
Once he met Tef and Shampoo, his plans for the future changed. He still wanted   
  
to become a master of his school but the first meeting between himself and   
  
Shampoo had him rethinking his future. He was still determined to take control   
  
of his father's school but was it even possible with who he was? Did he want to   
  
be associated with martial artists when here was an example of a master martial   
  
artist that behaved against the ideals he himself held dear?  
  
It was then that he had discarded the vague title of martial artist. Shampoo he   
  
considered a martial arts master and he didn't want to be placed in the same   
  
category as her. That one bad impression had ruined it for him; all the other   
  
good impressions he had seen over the many years and would continue seeing would   
  
not change his view. Since Shampoo was always there to remind him why it was   
  
that he had discarded the title of martial artist.  
  
Once ten years was finally up, marking the end of his training journey and his   
  
ascension to master of the Anything Goes school of martial arts he had turned to   
  
his traveling companion. She had been there for half of his journey, sharing the   
  
hardships and adventures and he wanted to try to give back some of the support   
  
that she had given him.  
  
So for the next year they once again scoured the world, starting in Israel they   
  
searched for her family and people. They had been unsuccessful in finding anyone   
  
but they had heard some rumors. Rumors of slavers, slave traders and slavery   
  
rings. Were her people were bought and sold, often for cheap labor. It was this   
  
life that she had been saved from by an odd coincidence.  
  
Still at the end of that year with no reliable leads he had wanted to find what   
  
was left of his own family, his mother. Tef had been grateful for his help in   
  
searching for her family, but with no reliable leads and plenty of dead ends she   
  
had encouraged him to go find his mother. The search for her people could be   
  
postponed temporarily. 'Who knows' she had said to him 'we may stumble across a   
  
lead in Tokyo while trying to find your mother.'  
  
That is how the two of them came to be standing in front of the Tendo complex.   
  
Ranma looked sideways at Tef, "Well I guess there's nothing to it but to knock,   
  
I hope he received my letter."  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Shampoo knelt in supplication before three old women. It was an effort, to kneel   
  
- for two reasons. Firstly it meant that she had failed, an admittance of the   
  
need for help. Shampoo had been on the road since she was ten, she had   
  
constantly battled both the cat demon and the obstacle demon and while she had   
  
never won convincingly, she had was not dead, which meant she had never   
  
completely lost either.   
  
Throughout those six years on the road, Shampoo had learnt things she doubted   
  
the women in front of her with the exception of her great grandmother had even   
  
dreamed of. She had gained power enough to match any one of these women, though   
  
not all three of them. Not once had she needed to ask for help of any kind. That   
  
she needed to now was a failure on her behalf.  
  
Secondly kneeling before these women, all three matriarchs of the Amazon nation   
  
only meant one thing. Judgment and punishment was about to metered out. No, she   
  
was not enjoying this experience at all. The fact that there was a body of   
  
people that held ultimate power over her did not sit well with Shampoo. She had   
  
spent far too long living an independent life. She followed them though, since   
  
this was her home and despite being a match for anyone of these women in power,   
  
skill-wise she still had a lot to learn from them.  
  
"We have been expecting you to return for a while now, Shampoo. Six years is a   
  
long time for a hunt. You have failed in your vengeance quest and what is your   
  
excuse, 'the demon has gained a formidable ally'." Cologne looked at the women   
  
on either side of her before continuing, "We have decided that I will accompany   
  
you as you continue your quest, offering what aid I can. While you have become   
  
powerful don't think that you can match 3000 years of Amazon tradition. We hold   
  
some unbeatable techniques that are the province of we three alone.  
  
Before we continue on your vengeance quest, it only remains to declare your   
  
punishment for failing so miserably. It has been discovered that this 'demon'   
  
ally is nothing but a mere male who has been trained in the Neko-ken. Pitiful   
  
that you've been on the run from a male, for six years." The last was said in   
  
disgust. "Your punishment is somewhat appropriate then, and may even aid you in   
  
some small way." With a cackle and a splash of water were once stood Shampoo in   
  
supplication now lay a small purple haired cat.  
  
"So the boy has shown that he can stand up to a warrior, that's noteworthy, he   
  
would have provided a good husband for her. It's a pity that he has allied   
  
himself to demon spawn and therefore must be crushed. He may have thwarted   
  
shampoo's attempts at vengeance but he will wilt before a true matriarch bearing   
  
the power of 3000 years of Amazon tradition." The sound of three ancient women   
  
cackling echoed across the village drowning out the pitiful meowing of a   
  
confused kitten.  
  
A/N - It should be noted that Ranma makes a firm distinction between   
  
belonging to or mastering a school of martial arts and being a martial artist.   
  
In his mind he belongs to and is the master of the Saotome School of Anything   
  
Goes while Shampoo is a martial artist.  
  
- If Genma is an honorable man despite the Happosai's training then chances are   
  
Soun is too.  
  
  
  
-Soun would assume that Genma only died recently if he only just got news that   
  
he had died. He would have no reason to believe otherwise.  
  
- You may ask why Shampoo even bothered returning to the Amazon village? Well it   
  
should be obvious that it is her home, and the home of some very techniques that   
  
cannot be found anywhere else. 


	5. Engagement pending

Ch5: Untamed Neko  
  
Lance Alucard was kind enough to offer to preread this fic for me.   
  
Thanks a lot mate  
  
Engagement pending  
  
Nabiki looked between her father and her sisters as they waited for Suon to make his important announcement. Through her own efforts at keeping the dojo's finances stable and on the positive side of the cheque book she had become quite adept at reading people. What she was reading from her father was both encouraging and disturbing. Soun was sitting straighter and his visage was sterner than usual, a sure indicator that something important had happened or was going to happen.   
  
The person she remembered her father being before her mother's death, while not completely back was certainly a lot closer at that moment than it had been in a long time. She wondered what could have Caused such a change in her father when nothing that she or her sisters had done came even close to snapping him out of the shell he had built around himself.  
  
That's why she was worried - whatever it was it was serious. "The son of a very good friend of mine and a master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes will be arriving soon," Soun started. "I received word today that since his father died in some sort of a training accident on their 11 year training trip he is coming here to visit. The engagement between him and one of you three girls was arranged before your mother died. After uniting the families together you would then be expected to carry on the dojo securing both the Tendo and Soatome family legacy."  
  
Nabiki couldn't say that she was relieved at the news, she wasn't but she had feared hearing something much worse from her father. She had been expecting something like this for a while. It was a common occurrence in business for mergers to take place in order to bail out one side of the merger or the other, this she saw as no different. Why it had taken Soun so long to recognize that their finances where in such poor health though bewildered her.   
  
'Wait a minute, did he just say family friend. No mention of wealth or prosperity,' Nabiki thought as she joined her protest with her sisters along with a not so subtle inquiry about his status. "Do you know anything else about him other than the fact that he is the son of your dear departed friend and a master of our sister school?"  
  
Her fathers reply somewhat satisfied her though, it required some resources to trip around the world for eleven years. 'I just hope that he is moderately good looking and intelligent, the last thing I want to do is marry some dumb jock even for the sake of the family.' Nabiki didn't expect love in an arranged marriage but she hoped for someone that she could abide. It was almost a forgone conclusion that she would be roped into the engagement since she had taken it upon herself to handle all financial matters in the family. This family merger certainly applied.  
  
"Ah we have a visitor, Kasumi could you kindly escort our guest to the table." Her fathers voice sounded across the table starting Nabiki out of her thoughts and making her realize that someone had knocked on the door. 'Surely father wouldn't have left it so late to tell us of the engagement,' she thought in disbelief.   
  
Kasumi escorted a young man of about sixteen and a young woman into the room. The young woman was dressed in an overcoat that hid any other observation that even she might have been able to deduce from her appearance. Nabiki however was much more interested in the young man that Kasumi had escorted in especially after he introduced himself as Ranma Saotome and the young woman as his sister. While the young woman would become family she wouldn't be expected to marry her.  
  
Ranma was smartly dressed in silken Chinese clothes, a red shirt and black kung fu pants. His black hair was tied back into a ponytail and he had the most amazing crystal blue eyes, definitely a looker. As she had found out though, often the hard way looks could be deceiving.  
  
"I'm glad you got my letter master Tendo, you know why I'm here," Ranma started after taking a seat at the table earning him glares from each of Tendo's daughters, it almost sounded as if he were purchasing a side of beef not arranging a marriage.   
  
"Of course Ranma," Soun replied jovially. "Meet my daughters; Kasumi, she's nineteen. Nabiki my middle daughter is seventeen and Akane is sixteen. Before we move on to business though could you please tell me how my old friend and training partner Genma met his end?"   
  
After looking at each of three daughters, as Soun introduced them, with a questioning look Ranma simply nodded before starting his tale. 'Is it possible that he doesn't know about the engagement' Nabiki thought as she caught his questioning glance. Nabiki leaned forward to listen to Ranma's story 'after all the more I know about my possible fiancée the better any future relationship is sure to be.'  
  
"When I was six Genma found a training manual that described an ultimate technique called the Neko-ken. It was quite simple to teach; you simply wrap the student in fish sausage and repeatedly throw them into a pit of starving cats." Ranma ignored the expressions on the three girls' faces as he continued his tale; he often received similar looks when he described his training methods to others. It was one of the reasons he often trained in private and rarely talked about it.  
  
"Because of the danger to the student, my father decided to minimize the risk by spending the next year concentrating purely on the conditioning part of my training. By my seventh birthday after I had swam to China across the Sea of Japan my father declared my readiness to learn the technique."   
  
Ranma shook his head, "it still took me two weeks to learn the technique despite all the conditioning training I had done. Or rather to start to learn the technique, you see master Tendo the Neko-ken is not just a single technique or school of techniques but rather…a buttress. If you imagine martial arts as a wall with every technique learnt a brick extending and building upon that wall then the Neko-ken could be described as a buttress that helps support and strengthen the wall. I'm afraid that without you knowing the technique I couldn't be anymore specific,' Ranma apologized. 'My father died in the course of teaching me the Neko-ken."  
  
Nabiki shook her head at the almost casual way that he described his father throwing him in a pit of starving cats at seven…. SEVEN. It made her wonder what else he had been through or been subjected to and exactly what kind of man his father was. There were a few holes in his story; the biggest though was how his father had actually died. That he had actually avoided merely describing the circumstances behind his father's death.  
  
Still according to his story he had only been trained in anything goes for two years. It almost made her wonder how he could claim to be a master of the school based on two years of training in the school plus whatever self taught martial arts he had learnt over the years. Especially when that two years of training was done so long ago. Admittedly she didn't know much about martial arts especially their family school but how could anyone hold onto core principles when they had been taught them at such a young age and for a limited time.  
  
Nabiki only had to look at Akane to know that it took more than being taught the basics and then some self-teaching to be able to master an entire school. Still until she had information to the contrary she would accept his self-proclaimed title. 'After all' she admitted to herself 'how can I judge him with knowing so little about martial arts, and besides his a guest.'  
  
"Perhaps you would like to spar with Akane? She is the heir of our dojo." Nabiki sighed once again how could her father be so stupid, the master that she remembered from before her mother's death would never have made such a social blunder. They may have all doubted the legitimacy of his title but it was extremely rude to express as much to his face.   
  
Nabiki supposed as a master of anything goes her father had a small justification but it would have been more proper for him to challenge Ranma himself, master to master. To imply that an almost rank beginner would be a test of his skills was just rubbing salt in. To question his status was insult enough and it seemed that Ranma noticed both stabs at his person.   
  
What she couldn't understand was how without doing or saying anything he managed to totally change the atmosphere in the room. Where once it had been an almost neutral gathering, it now had a feeling of dread that permeated through the room. Ranma had without moving a muscle that she could see had changed his bearing from that of a martial artist, ready to react to any physical threat that came his way; to a large predator, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.  
  
Only the restraining hand of his sister seemed to be restraining him. "Master Tendo, if you are questioning my title of master would it not be more appropriate for you yourself to challenge me rather than your student." Akane almost flinched at the way he said student, it was clear that he didn't think much of her skill. Although how he could judge without sparing with her Nabiki couldn't have begun to guess. "However if as a fellow master you would like me to evaluate your pupil's progress, well I would be quite pleased to oblige."  
  
It was with great disappointment that the weak man that her father had been since her mothers death was back. "Please," Soun squeaked "Akane can show you where the dojo is." Soun could be seen to almost slump with relief as his three daughters, Ranma and his sister left to the dojo.   
  
To say he had been intimidated would be an understatement. After that little demonstration if he had a choice whether to cross the dreaded master or Ranma then he would gladly cross the master.  
  
___________________________________________________________  
  
Akane almost sung with anticipation of proving that she was not just the best in Nerima but world class. When she beat this self-proclaimed master to a pulp would she be able to also proclaim that she was a master of her school as well?   
  
Akane almost growled in rage as she remembered how the upstart had intimidated her father. As if that was hard to do, it was in her mind almost an act of bullying on his behalf. So what if she did it on occasion to get her own way, she was family so it was all right.   
  
She ignored the fact that Soun had insulted him and that Ranma had provided a way for Soun to back down without loss of face. A situation that judging from both elder daughters faces that they seemed to be aware of. It showed intelligence on his behalf though they had also noticed subtle prompting from his sister that in their minds bore further looking into.  
  
Looking back at Ranma and his well-dressed sister she scowled, what were they whispering about? Probably insulting her behind her back, well she would show them. Once she was finished with Ranma she would beat the snot out of his sister as well. Akane was by this stage almost snarling as she worked up a rage that had become integral to her fighting style.   
  
Reaching the dojo Akane stalked to the far corner and turned to state the conditions of the match. Before she could open her mouth though Ranma interrupted her, "since I am here to evaluate your skills in anything goes don't hold back. The match will end when I say. Begin"  
  
Akane who had become more and more red in the face by being interrupted jumped forward to pummel this impostor who had upstaged her in her own dojo.  
  
___________________________________________________________  
  
Tef smiled approvingly at how her brother had handled the situation so far from his comfort zone with so little prompting. It hadn't been until he had finished his ten-year training journey and begun looking for her people and family that he had realized the importance of communication.  
  
Naturally it had been his adoptive sister that he had turned to for help 'or training as he called it' she thought with amusement. Not that she minded of course Tef had made it her mission to understand why people behaved like she did in an attempt to explain that night so long ago. The night where she had wondered outside alone still occasionally gave her nightmares, but Ranma was always there to calm her.  
  
Ranma was always there for her whenever she needed him, whether it was to protect her from another mob, something that had stopped as soon as she started dressing so concealingly, or to celebrate her birthday. Though they were not family by birth, Ranma always treated her like his own family. She could tell that he missed his as much as she did her own. Though he hadn't been able to legally adopt her into his clan he had assured her that it did not stop him from adopting her into his heart. Saying something like that was very unlike her adopted brother since he still had problems dealing with people in a less than formal manner but very sweet nether the less.  
  
It often disturbed her how people reacted to her throughout their journeying. Sure in all their searching they had not been able to find any more of her kind and as such she was quite unique. But the outright hostility that she received at the hands of the people and later the rumors of slavery confounded her. How could any society that claimed to be civilized behave in such a way?  
  
So until she could find a place that she could live without the threat of slavery or the fear of suddenly finding a murderous mob on her doorstep she out of necessity had to remain with her brother. Tef felt safe with her brother, he had after all yet to let her down. Even if she had a choice though she would not voluntarily leave his side, they had been together too long and been through too much.   
  
Since Ranma was her mouthpiece with the world then it was frustrating to see that he placed so little importance on the ability to communicate well. When he started his search for her people and family he had discovered to her relief that communication was a very necessary skill and it was not something that came naturally to him. He was a lot better now than he was when he had first come to her for help. Now he came across as slightly uptight and not a total jerk. This made gathering information so much easier.  
  
She had watched him as he introduced the both of them and almost nodded as he covered his confusion at the girls' presence in what should have been a private affair. Tef had smirked proudly when he had failed to rise to Soun's insult and instead left a way for the old man to back down without losing face after a suitable level of intimidation, she had no doubts that if he had really wanted to harm the old man then her hand on his arm would not have prevented it.   
  
As she accompanied him to the dojo she just reiterated that to injure or harm the hosts is just not done, even with provocation. She needn't have bothered since Ranma was now in his element, martial arts. He may deny vehemently being a martial artist citing Shampoo as an example but in her opinion it was Shampoo that was no martial artist and not Ranma.  
  
Still she felt a little sorry for Akane, even if he was just evaluating her skill level she was still in for some serious pain as he pushed her to her limits. The smug grin on her face that slowly turned into a snarl just made Tef pity her more, Ranma she noticed had seen that very expression and was sure to make her regret whatever she was thinking. Even she new enough of martial to tell that this girl lacked restraint and that was very dangerous thing in a martial artist.  
  
She wasn't too worried at Akane's fate though; Ranma took martial arts very seriously and would never go too far. He had seen an example of someone who had gone down that path in Shampoo and she knew that it continued to have an enormous impact on his behavior.  
  
"Since I am here to evaluate your skills in anything goes don't hold back. The match will end when I say. Begin," Tef had seen enough of Ranma's fights to know that Akane had started using some lethal moves after some time at failing to hit the elusive master. What had this Master Tendo been teaching this girl for her to be so lacking in restraint? It really was an embarrassment to him and their school.  
  
That Tef knew would make this sparring match very painful for Akane as he tried to deliver a very clear lesson, 'lose your temper and you'll lose the fight'. Ranma was generally very forgiving but there were a few things that he held very dear to him and one of them was his school of martial arts. The sister school was so closely tied that she knew that he would not be very tolerant of any embarrassment coming from there either. She knew he had worked so hard and sacrificed his childhood for the sake of his school and the embarrassment that Akane was presenting him with would ensure that the lesson would be a little harsher than normal.  
  
"Your speed is almost non existent, who have you been sparing with an untrained idiot?" She heard Ranma ask as her repeatedly dodged Akane's frantic and rage driven assault. "Your strength needs a lot of work" He commented as her briefly caught a blow that was aimed at his throat.   
  
Tef watched as Ranma shook his head, a gesture that was clearly visible despite the fact that his entire body occasionally blurred between dodges. "If you want an opponent to take you seriously then you've just got to stop telegraphing your moves."  
  
Suddenly Ranma was on the offensive, "your defensive is worse than your offence. You have holes that are just begging to be attacked." Each hole was punctuated with a light tap from Ranma making them obvious to Akane and the spectators. Just as Akane seemed on the verge of putting out a visible battle aura in rage, something she had seen Ranma do frequently Ranma jumped away from Akane. An action that only served to frustrate her more than the dodging had done. For the first time in as long as Akane could remember she had been unable to smash the object of her rage.  
  
"I've seen enough, Master Tendo" Ranma addressed Soun who had entered the dojo in time to see the finish of the match and commentary. He was also just in time to see Akane grab the family katana from the Tendo family shrine at the end of the dojo and attack Ranma from behind yelling "the match isn't over until I SAY!"   
  
Ranma effortlessly avoided Akane's attacks, not even bothering to turn around while staring pointedly at Soun. The unspoken "rein in you student" rang clearly throughout the dojo amongst Akane's grunts of effort. Kasumi, Nabiki and Soun seemed horrified at Akane's actions; Tef just shook her head thinking 'another Shampoo, that's all we need.'   
  
"Your student barely ranks a beginner Master Tendo and her lack of control will prevent her from becoming much more." Soun just nodded sadly both he and Ranma completely ignoring Akane despite the fact that it seemed she was doing her very best to turn Ranma into a delicacy.  
  
"Akane," Soun snapped causing Akane to halt her attacks though clearly she wished to continue her ineffective efforts. "Leave us, there are some family and school matters that need discussing and until you show yourself capable of thinking about how your actions effect both you will be excluded from such." It was an utterly humiliated sixteen-year-old girl that almost fled from the dojo.  
  
A/N – Soun may be trying to turn his life around but to expect a complete personality change is just not very realistic. He has spent the last 9 years grief stricken, losing his backbone. To suddenly regain it would be out of character.  
  
-Ranma as a master of the Saotome School cannot be a proper judge of Akane's level in the Tendo School. However the Tendo schools and the Saotome School were derived from the same original source meaning that the basics would be the same. Also Ranma has just finished eleven years of collecting a familiarity of many different schools worldwide so a martial artist of Akane's caliber would not be outside of his area of expertise.  
  
- Ranma has spent ten years thinking that martial arts are the only thing that matters. Even with Tef's companionship he still has not learned advanced communication skills despite the fact that Tef has spend her own time doing so. A year of him slowly changing his attitude may not be time enough to become a famous orator but it will give him enough skills to get by in most situations.  
  
- At this stage I'm very worried about my characters becoming discontinuous. So to everybody who is reading this if my characters seem to be doing something that you feel is out of character within the guidelines I have established I would appreciate it a lot if you could either post a review or just email me and let me know.  
  
- Yes I know this is a little short but I felt it was a good place to stop. Please don't forget to place reviews even if it is just – hurry up with the next chapter, at least then I'll know people are reading it. 


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